MUMBAI: For those “Sting” addicts, who need their daily fix, there is something new (just launched) from the Coca Cola guys, who recently (two days ago) launched “Charged” in Mumbai – an energy drink that claims to be better than “Sting”. It was launched three years ago, when this article was originally written.. This is an update…
We are not sure if “Charged” is available all over the country as yet, but we are restricting this story to our Mumbai experience. (Well as of today, it is mostly available all over the country, but not as widely as “Sting”.)
Since we are self-confessed “Sting” addicts – consuming at least two 500 ml PET bottles per person each day (Remember the permitted quantity is only one 500 ml PET bottle per day), we decided to try out the new, just launched “Charged”. (We have now reduced our intake of Sting)
Here are our first impressions. The taste of “Charged” is somewhat different. It has berry-like fruit flavor, which the company claims is ‘different’, but after having a few (2-3) drinks, one tends to get tired of the same taste and seems to want a different flavour. Now they have more than one flavour, but the original one was the best.
For now “Sting” is available in just one flavour – to the best of our knowledge in Mumbai, but the best thing the company (Pepsico) could do is to introduce the 500 ml PET bottle. It is definitely value for money with a saving or discount of Rs 5/- per 500 ml. (When this article was originally written, there was only one flavour. Now there are at least two. But the Blue Current was better, the Gold Splash is like a new drink in itself.)
Coming to the tech specs, “Sting” has more Caffeine per serving (250 ml) which is about 72 mg/250 ml., while “Charged” has 24.6 mg/100 ml or 61.5 mg/250 ml. More than 10 mg of extra caffeine per 250 ml!
The big difference seems to be in the Energy per serving – while “Sting” claims to have 70 kcal per 250 ml, “Charged” label mentions 155 kcal, which seems to be double that of “Sting”. We need to get this clarified with the Pepsi and Coke guys, but none of them were ready to answer our calls on this subject.
When it comes to the real feel factor – “Charged” seems to be more refreshing than “Sting” at least initially, but in terms of energy and alertness, “Sting” seems to win hands down. Sting seems to really give you a big sting.
Both “Charged” and “Sting” have a warning advising only 2 servings (total of 500 ml) in a 24-hour period for adults and children below the age of 16 are not advised to consume caffeinated products like “Sting” and “Charged”.
We are still evaluating these two popular products – “Sting” definitely is the present market leader in its segment and price range – with many fakes (outright copycat spurious products) and duplicates hitting the market, including in shops in upmarket Lokhandwala (Andheri West, Mumbai), but lets see how “Charged” picks up in the days to come.
The “Predator” PET bottle launch doesn’t seem to have gone down too well. Rs 30 is a bit expensive, given the fact that in places Sting is available in 300 ml bottles for Rs 20. So in this case, “Predator 250 ml” is expensive.
We will update this post with more feedback and news as we get more details. You can leave your comments and feedback in the space below…